Feline lymphoma: diagnosis, staging and clinical presentations

Abstract

Background: Lymphoma is a neoplasm of the lymphoid tissue, which may present with localised or systemic clinical signs. Unlike dogs that commonly present with multicentric disease, mostly involving the lymphoid organs (eg, lymph nodes), feline lymphoma can present as visceral (eg, spleen/liver/gut), extranodal (eg, CNS/skin) or nodal in origin, with clinical presentation dependant on the affected organ. This variation in clinical presentation is further complicated by further indolent forms of lymphoma that have been reported; a cat can either present as clinically unwell with intrathoracic or intra‐abdominal forms, or it can present with some subcutaneous or multicentric forms, which may be systemically asymptomatic.Aim of the article: This article discusses the diagnosis and staging of feline lymphoma, the different clinical presentations, and outlines the most commonly used treatment methods.